Human Events

Presidential Death Threat at Purdue

A graduate student at Purdue University is under arrest and charged with threatening to kill President George W. Bush, his wife and other members of the administration.

The Post-Trib reports Vikram Buddhi allegedly posted messages online urging readers "to bomb the United States and for them to rape American and British women and mutilate them, according to court documents. Other messages called for the killing of all Republicans."

Buddhi’s attorney, John Martin, said he hopes his client will be released from jail Wednesday so he may continue studying for his upcoming finals.

Although the grad student "told investigators he posted the message, along with other derogatory messages aimed at the president," according to the article, Martin claims that since Buddhi "would have never" acted on the threats, such actions should be covered under the First Amendment.

"What was allegedly said certainly is derogatory and may be inflammatory," Martin said. "But there’s no real serious threat more than it was chat on the Web."

Buddhi, an industrial engineering student from India, moved to West Lafayette 10 years ago on a student visa. Initially hired as a teaching assistant within the math department, Buddhi now works in the industrial engineering department as a teaching assistant. The Post-Trib article goes on to report that the threatening messages where allegedly posted on a Yahoo finance board. The Dallas office of the Secret Service was then contacted by "a concerned citizen."

Mr. Flickinger is the "dean" of Human Events U and founder of the Network of Campus Conservatives. He is a native of Pittsburgh, who graduated from Ohio University Scripps School of Journalism with specializations in political science and economics.